The spreadsheet objects in the Spread namespace, which represent various parts of the spreadsheet, can be accessed through a set of built-in shortcut objects. The shortcut objects help you interact with the parts of the spreadsheet in a way that is probably familiar to you from working with other components or applications. Cells, rows, columns and others are wrappers to other objects, and make customization that much easier by allowing you to manipulate them. There are objects that represent parts of a visible spreadsheet, such as columns, rows, and cells; and there are conceptual representations of underlying pieces of the spreadsheet which are implemented in the underlying models. To understand more about the objects in Spread, look at the simplified object model diagrams for the FpSpread class and the SheetView class as shown here.
Spread for ASP.NET provides the following shortcut objects in the Spread namespace:
| Shortcut Object | Corresponding Classes | |
|---|---|---|
| cell | Cell | Cells |
| column | Column | Columns |
| header | ColumnHeader | RowHeader |
| row | Row | Rows |
| alternating row | AlternatingRow | AlternatingRows |
To use the shortcut objects, you will set their properties or call their methods. Many of the objects provide indexes for specifying the row, column, or cell with which you want to work.
The shortcut objects help you interact with the Spread for ASP.NET component in a way that is probably familiar to you from working with other components or applications. They are shortcuts for working with more conceptual objects, the more abstract objects, that are referred to as "models." These models are responsible for managing the style information, formatting, and data in the Spread component. They are what give the product its power and flexibility for customization. For more information on the underlying models, refer to Underlying Models.
The shortcut objects call the model objects. However, the shortcut objects allow you to interact with the Spread component without dealing too much with the underlying object models if you are doing routine development. If you are new to working with Spread, or are new to developing in an object-oriented environment, you might want to use the shortcut objects at first, as you become familiar with the features of Spread for ASP.NET. However, intensive use of the shortcut objects can degrade your application’s performance. As you get familiar with the workings of the product and as you want more control over the spreadsheet, you may begin to work more with the models.
For more information on the skins that can applied to a sheet, refer to Applying a Skin to a Sheet. For more information on the styles refer to Creating and Applying a Custom Style for Cells.